Olympic's defense pulls out gutsy win over Yelm

Olympic running back Marcus Harris looks for room to run up the middle against Yelm on Friday night.
(STEVE ZUGSCHWERDT/SPECIAL TO THE KITSAP SUN)

It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t even good at times, but the Olympic Trojans did what they needed to do to secure a 7-0 win over the Yelm Tornadoes in a non-league football game Friday at Silverdale Stadium.

“We’ll take any win, whether it’s ugly or clean or good-lookin’ I don’t care, we’ll take it,” said first-year Olympic coach Sal Quitevis, who earned his first win as a high school coach.

It was the Trojans’ defensive unit that shut down Yelm — although the Tornadoes hurt themselves just as much with unnecessary penalties — for four quarters. The Tornadoes were flagged 13 times for 105 yards.

“We’ll take whatever help we can get,” Quitevis added. “They call what they call, the refs, I have no control over that. They went our way and helped us out.”

Olympic limited Yelm to just 159 yards on the ground. Quarterback Quentin Buck led with 48 yards on nine carries. The Tornadoes had 12 first downs in the first half. The Trojans had two interceptions and the fumble recovery.

“We said it from the get-go, we’ve got a solid D,” Quitevis said. “Last week we had a few long plays happen to us, but when it comes down to the nitty-gritty these guys go fast out there and they make good tackles.

“It was a tribute to them. They won this game for us.”

In the second quarter, Yelm drove to the Trojans’ 30 yard line, and went for it on fourth and five. A fumble — forced by the quickness of the defensive line — allowed Olympic’s Michael Halverson to pick up the loose ball and dash 65 yards to the end zone for the game’s only score. Makeleb McInnis kicked the point after touchdown for the 7-0 lead.

“Tommy pushed me and said, ‘You gotta get goin’!’ So that’s it, he just gave me that boost,” Halverson said.

Quitevas said he and his coaches will work with the offense this week as the Trojans will face Kingston next Friday to open Olympic League play.

“We’ve got some young kids on that offensive line and you could tell, it showed,” Quitevas said. “They (Yelm) were sending and we weren’t picking it up and they took us back a few times. ... Hopefully we’ll get it all straightened out.”